On Thursday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport delivered another blow to the embattled country by rejecting Russia's appeal against the IAAF's ban on its track and field team, meaning they will not be in Rio next month.

"The Court of Arbitration for Sport has dismissed the request filed by the Russian Olympic Committee and 68 Russian athletes. These requests were limited to certain legal issues concerning the application, the validity, the scope of new rules of the International Athletics Federation adopted on 17 June 2016 which states that 'athletes whose national federation is suspended by the IAAF are ineligible for competition held under the IAAF rules including the Olympic Games unless they satisfy specific criteria.' As a consequence the Russian Olympic Committee is not entitled to nominate Russian track and field athletes for the Olympic Games unless they fulfil these specific criteria," said Matthieu Reeb, CAS secretary general. 

The ruling by the CAS to ban Russia's track and field team will be taken into consideration by the International Olympic Committee, as it considers whether to impose a blanket ban on Russia from all sports. The IOC is expected to reach a final decision within the next week. The appeal was launched by the Russian Olympic Committee and 68 Russian athletes, who said they were being punished despite not having failed drug tests. CAS secretary general Matthieu Reeb noted that his organization's decision is not binding on the IOC.

"At the moment I understand that the Russia Olympic Committee has selected athletes including these 68 athletes for track and field events. So now it is for the International Olympic Committee to determine if these athletes can be confirmed or not. In the opinion of CAS, because the Russian athletics federation is suspended normally these athletes should not compete in Rio. But again, IOC was not a party to these arbitrations so our decision is not binding on the IOC," Matthieu Reeb said.